Are robot lawnmowers any good, or just expensive lawn toys?

How RTK navigation actually mows your lawn

Here's what actually changed. Instead of a wire loop telling the mower where the edge of your lawn is, this one uses RTK, a corrected satellite signal that narrows GPS from meter-plus wobble down to centimeters. A base station sits in your yard, picks up the correction data, and feeds it to the mower's antenna in real time. That precision is what lets it drive in straight, systematic rows across the grass instead of the bump-and-turn randomness older robot mowers were known for, the kind that left patchy stripes and missed corners. The catch, and it's a real one, is that RTK needs a clear view of sky. Trees, fences, and tight side yards weaken that signal, which is why the CARE kit ships with an extension cable, so you can move the antenna somewhere with a cleaner line up rather than being stuck with wherever the base station happens to sit. Read that as an admission that complex yards are harder to map, not a bonus feature. The other half of the CARE upgrade is blunter: thirty six spare blades. Blades are the one part of a mower that always wears down, and a stash that size means you're not ordering replacements every few months just to keep a clean cut. Add the app based zone mapping, which lets you split the yard into front, back, and side sections with their own schedules, and a machine built at 44.5 pounds to sit outside and work daily, not get carried in after every mow.